Role of Special Track Chairs

Welcome to Data for Policy 2024. We are pleased that you are considering submitting a proposal for a special track at the conference. You can find all the information you need in the sections below.

We eagerly anticipate receiving your exciting and innovative proposals for special tracks that will enrich the Data for Policy 2024 Conference and contribute to shaping the future of AI-enabled governance. In particular, Data for Policy 2024 special tracks will enhance the specific theme focus of this edition, “Trustworthy Governance with AI?” and complement our standard tracks.

Why should I submit a proposal? Successful special track proposals will be part of the Data for Policy conference 2024 call for papers. Through this, they will aim to attract a series of full-paper submissions, which will undergo our efficient and rigorous integrated peer-review process for presentation at the conference and subsequent publication in the prestigious open-access Data & Policy journal, published by Cambridge University Press. The review process is designed to allow rapid publication of accepted papers soon after the conference.

What will my role be if my track is selected?

Promoting the call: The proposers of successful tracks become named special track chairs, who will solicit full paper submissions from their networks by promoting the call and actively inviting papers from experts in the relevant area. There may be the possibility of adding other material to the track, depending on space in the conference programme. Please note that special tracks with too few submissions may not be included in the programme.

Curating content: Special track chairs will act as guest editors for Data & Policy and will be responsible for securing peer reviews for all submissions to their track, as part of the conference/journal integrated process. Content from the special track will be disseminated in multimodal formats including as sessions at the conference, pre-prints in Zenodo, videos on YouTube, and full-paper publications in Data & Policy, maximising the impact of research included in the track. At the conference, they will register as delegates, attend in-person and chair sessions featuring submissions from their special tracks (although the conference organisers reserve the right to move submissions into or out of the track if the programme dictates it).

After the conference, special track chairs will have the option of continuing to develop publications, by acting as a guest editor of a special collection on the same topic in Data & Policy. This will involve continuing to invite articles outside the conference timetable.

Operational responsibilities: Key dates for the conference are available and special track chairs are expected to complete tasks on time. Special track chairs are also expected to stay in regular contact with the conference organisers and provide progress updates